Yellowknife (July 06/01) - When an emergency occurs, the costs associated with dealing with it are the last things on the minds of those involved.

But when the bills do come in for out-of-town emergencies, they come in big. The city charges residents on the Ingraham Trail and those in Dettah fees that reflect the true cost of emergency service.

For fire responses, the city charges $500 for the first two hours of service and $200 per hour for each additional hour.

The fee for ambulance service outside city limits is $365 plus $1 per kilometre.

The bill also includes overtime paid for staff called in to ensure fire and emergency services are available to city residents during out-of-town responses.

"We can't jeopardize people who are paying the way in the city and leave Yellowknife with inadequate staff," said public safety director Dave Nicklen.

In addition the city charges for miscellaneous costs, such as satellite phone charges, associated with service out of town.

Though Ingraham Trail residents pay taxes, "absolutely zero" goes into city coffers, said Nicklen. The territorial government collects a minimal amount of property taxes from those living on the trail, money that is swallowed into the territorial government's general revenue purse.

This year the Yellowknife fire department plans to spend a total $1.9 million on fire and ambulance services, about a half million dollars more than it will collect in fees.

City residents pay nothing to have fires extinguished, but there is a user fee of $155 for in-town ambulance service.